The men's basketball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, began on 10 August and ended on 24 August, when the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

defeated

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

118–107 for the gold medal. All games were held at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium.

Qualification

Format

* Twelve teams are split into 2 preliminary round groups of 6 teams each. The top 4 teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage. * Fifth-placed teams from each group are ranked 9th–10th by basis of their records. * Sixth-placed teams from each group are ranked 11th–12th by basis of their records. * In the quarterfinals, the matchups are as follows: A1 vs. B4, A2 vs. B3, A3 vs. B2 and A4 vs. B1. **The eliminated teams at the quarterfinals are ranked 5th–8th by basis of their preliminary round records * The winning teams from the quarterfinals meet in the semifinals as follows: A1/B4 vs. A3/B2 and A2/B3 vs. A4/B1. * The winning teams from the semifinals play for the gold medal. The losing teams play for the bronze. Ties are broken via the following the criteria, with the first option used first, all the way down to the last option: # Head to head results #

Goal average A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

(not the goal difference) between the tied teams # Goal average of the tied teams for all teams in its group All times are local Beijing Time (UTC+8).

Squads

Preliminary round

All times are

China Standard Time The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08:00 (eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time), even though the country spans almost five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called ''Beijing T ...

(

UTC+8 UTC+08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +08:00. With an estimated population of 1.708 billion living within the time zone, roughly 24% of the world population, it is the most populous time zone in the world, as well as a ...

)

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout round

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

The Americans got off to a start with the Spaniards hitting seven of their first nine shots; if not for a 10–0 run by

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...

and

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...

, the Americans would have trailed in the first quarter. With USA leading by 14, Spain chipped away at the lead during the second quarter to cut the deficit to eight points. The team traded baskets in the third quarter, with Spain cutting the deficit further to seven. A

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two poi ...

by Rudy Fernández cut the lead into two, the smallest deficit with 8:13 left in the fourth.

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

and Wade extended the lead with three-pointers to 103–92 but Spain had a final push, capped with another three-pointer from

Carlos Jiménez Carlos Jiménez Sánchez (born 10 February 1976) is a Spanish former professional basketball player and current sporting director of Unicaja. He is 2.05 m (6' 8 ") tall. His nickname is "suma y sigue Jiménez", which translated into English is, ...

to reduce the lead 108–104. In the final 2 minutes a three-pointer by Dwyane Wade and a Kobe Bryant field goal extended the lead back to 9. It is widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball games ever played.

Awards

Statistical leaders

Top ten in points, rebounds and assists, and top 5 in steals and blocks.

Points

Rebounds

Assists

Steals

Blocks

Game highs

Final standings

Rankings are determined by: *1st–4th **Results of gold and bronze medal games. *5th–8th: **Win–loss record in the preliminary round group **Standings in the preliminary round group (i.e. Group A's #3 is ranked higher than Group B's #4.) **Goal average in the preliminary round group *9th–10th and 11th–12th: **5th placers in the preliminary round groups are classified 9th–10th; 6th placers classified *11th–12th **Win–loss record in the preliminary round group **Goal average in the preliminary round group

References

External links

Men's tournament official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Men's tournament Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics Basketball at the Summer Olympics – Men's tournament